Titus 3:5-6 "Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit; Which he shed on
us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;"

The phrase or antecedent of "which he shed
on us abundantly" is not the Holy Spirit but has reference to "his
mercy." That is what has been "shed on us abundantly." His
grace, his mercy, his salvation was not "shed on us" because we had
done enough good works to merit it but his grace supplied the instructions on
how to obtain this great gift. (Titus 2:9-11)

The "washing of regeneration" was the
new birth that Jesus spoke of in John 3:5: "Except a man be born of water
and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." Evidently baptism
is the water referred to in both verses. "Baptism doth also now save
us." Peter says in 1 Peter 3:21. It is understood that in neither place
was the writer advocating baptism only/ It was a baptism for which one had been
prepared by proper teaching. (Ephesians 5:26) "That he might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." The washing would be
accompanied with the word, the teaching.

Baptism puts one into Christ, into the merits of
his atoning blood, but we do not stop with baptism. The Holy Spirit acts in the
life of this new creation but the Holy Spirit accomplishes his work through the
medium of the word. His words are the words of inspiration hence the reception
of the message of the Spirit is equivalent to receiving the Spirit himself. I
prefer the rendering of several later translations of the
passage."renewing of the Holy Spirit" as "renewing BY the Holy
Spirit." The Holy Spirit is the means by which we are renewed. This has to
do with the putting off of the Old Man and the putting on of the New Man as is
taught by Paul in Colossians 3:1-10. We read the conclusion of the whole matter
in verse 10: "And have put on the new man, which is RENEWED in knowledge
after the image of him that created him:"